[Docutils-develop] [docutils:bugs] #482 manpage: section numbers wrongly in boldface in "See also" section

[engelbert g. <gr...@us...>]

- **labels**:  --> manpage writer
- **assigned_to**: engelbert gruber



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**[bugs:#482] manpage: section numbers wrongly in boldface in "See also" section**

**Status:** open
**Labels:** manpage writer 
**Created:** Wed Mar 27, 2024 01:22 AM UTC by G. Branden Robinson
**Last Updated:** Wed Mar 27, 2024 01:29 AM UTC
**Owner:** engelbert gruber


The parenthesized section number of a man page document should be rendered upright at normal weight, not in boldface.

This appears to be an unintentional defect in the manpage writer.  Here's a snippet of _rst2man_ output.

~~~
.SH SEE ALSO
.INDENT 0.0
.TP
.B \fIgroff_man_style\fP(7)
is a reference to the \fIgroff\fP \fIman\fP macro language, with much advice
for document authors.
.TP
.B \fImandoc\fP(1)
is a non\-\fIroff\fP\-based system for formatting man pages.
.UNINDENT
~~~

It's pretty confusing to humans to mix font selection escape sequences with _man_ font macros.  (I also think that macros should be used in preference to formatter requests or escape sequences wherever possible, but I acknowledge that this is a much bigger challenge for document format conversion programs than for human writers.)

Here's what I propose when formatting a man page cross reference, in case you're doing any pattern matching to detect them.

~~~
.TP
.B \fIgroff_man_style\fP\R(7)\fP
~~~

If you're _not_ doing pattern matching to detect man page cross references, the problem may be harder.

Here's my rST input for the foregoing.

~~~
See also
========

*groff_man_style*\(7)
  is a reference to the *groff* *man* macro language, with much advice
  for document authors.

*mandoc*\(1)
  is a non-*roff*-based system for formatting man pages.
~~~

It appears to me that the decision to set the paragraph tag (definition list headword) in bold was _rst2man_'s; it was not derived from any formatting in the rST source document.  I humbly suggest reconsidering that choice, and let rST document authors select whatever degree of typographic emphasis for the paragraph tag/definition list headword they desire.  In fact it appears to be that they can already do so, so the ``B`` call may just be getting in the way.


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